By the end of the week, Melanie and Chris managed to put their blow out behind them, moving forward with life and preparing for the arrival of their daughter. They time together consisted of naps and short walks in the evening around the block,, along with romantic dinners and evenings watching movies or enjoying the peace and quiet before the storm. Their visits to the doctor became frequent, watching as Charlotte bopped around within Melanie's body as Doctor Kaui pulled her image up on the screen.

"She's just six ounces shy of six pounds," Doctor Kaui announced, during their thirty-fourth week checkup. "And she's not done growing yet."

Melanie winced, "Oh god," she mumbled, looking slightly ill at the thought. "How big do you think she'll be?"

Doctor Kaui shrugged, "You're six weeks away from giving birth, so I would say that she might weigh around eight or nine pounds by then."

Chris whistled, "Nine pounds?" he shook his head. "Isn't that kinda big?"

"Women deliver babies bigger than that," the doctor laughed. "Don't worry Mel! You'll be fine and Charlotte will be fine during this delivery."

Melanie nodded weakly, "My vagina is going to look like road kill, isn't it?" she whimpered. "Do you know any good plastic surgeons?"

Chris patted her hand, "I'm sure Doctor Kaui will make sure everything looks good as new when this is over," he promised.

"That's what they pay me for," Doctor Kaui smiled, as she pulled the photos out of the printer. "Get dressed and I'll see you before you leave!"

When she left the room, Chris stood from his seat and helped Melanie off the exam table and back into her clothes. "Hey," he lifted her chin up with his hand. "Don't look so sad, Mel. Everything's going to be fine."

She pouted, "How about I get you some ice-cream? Then we can go home and watch a movie?" he suggested. "Anything you want."

"Anything?" she asked, as he nodded. "Okay."

Kissing her forehead, Chris grabbed her bag off the counter and slipped it over her shoulder. "Let's schedule your appointment for next week and get going," he said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "I wanna get you home before another surprise thunderstorm breaks out again."

….

Another week came and went, as Melanie began to slow down quickly; sleeping longer hours throughout the day and staying up all night, as Charlotte kicked furiously in the womb.

"Mel?" Chris groaned, rolling over in bed late one night. "What are you doing?"

Looking up from her phone, Melanie winced. "I'm sorry," she whispered, setting the phone down on the blanket. "I thought I fixed the lighting on here so it wouldn't wake you up."

Sitting up, Chris yawned and ran his fingers through his hair. "It's okay," he shook his head, blinking his eyes furiously as they ached. "What are you doing up? It's late."

"I can't sleep," she huffed. "I'm chatting with Jim and Gaila."

"I thought Gaila was in Germany with Scotty?" he frowned. "She's already awake at what? Eight in the morning?"

Melanie nodded, "She said it was the first nice day of the week," she shifted against the pillows. "So she and Scotty woke up early to get some sight seeing done, just in case the weather decided to turn on them."

Chris nodded, "And what is Jim up to?" he asked, yawning. "Isn't it a school night? Considering that he's been taking Jo to school since Len works so late at night."

"Jo-jo has mono," Melanie sighed, stretching her legs out under the blankets. "They both took her to the doctor this afternoon and they finally got her to sleep."

"Oh no!" Chris gasped. "Poor girl!"

"Len's obviously freaking out and Jim is trying to play it cool for both of them, but he's worried," Melanie picked up her phone again as it buzzed. "Aw shit. Jim said she woke up screaming for them, and found her throwing up. Len wants to take her to the hospital."

Chris watched as she rapidly texted back with one hand, while the other rubbed her belly. "Tell them to call you if anything," he said, as she texted. "You should be sleeping, Mel."

She made a noise, "I can't sleep," she replied. "Slept all damn day."

"Then can you just lay down?" he asked. "Maybe that will help you."

"Chris, I don't want to sleep," she finally looked at him. "I just want a few hours to catch up on everything that I slept through. If the phone is bothering you, I'll go in the other room."

Not wanting to start another fight, considering that they had two weeks of normalcy, Chris quickly shook his head.

"It's fine," he held up his hands. "Just.. wake me up if anything happens."

Melanie nodded and accepted the quick kiss from him, before he settled back down on his side of the bed. By the time he woke up later on, around seven, Melanie was out cold and her cellphone was wrapped up within the bed sheets with a low battery.

….

"Yeah I'm watching it now," Chris mumbled into the phone. "Are they really expecting this to be as bad as the last one?"

Leonard sighed, "Don't know, but after Sandy.. they don't fuck around anymore with these storms," he said. "I suggest you two figure out something before the week is out. Maybe head over to Rich and Alice's place."

"We'll be fine here," Chris shrugged, moving into the kitchen. "I'll do some food shopping either today or tomorrow and I'll double check the flashlights and whatnot."

Melanie came out with a laundry basket, glancing at the television before setting it down on the kitchen table. "Who's on the phone?" she mouthed out, frowning.

"Len," he whispered, moving the receiver away from his mouth. "Yeah, she's fine. A little tired, but she's still moving about. You wanna talk to her?"

Taking the phone from Chris, Melanie settled into the chair while he took over the laundry basket. They talked about Joanna's battle with mono, work, Charlotte and then finally, Tropical Storm Lola.

"Chris and I will be fine here, Len," Melanie reassured him. "What could go wrong? Maybe we'll get lucky and it'll just rain a lot and then everything will cool down for once."

Chris could hear Leonard grumbling on the other end of the phone, "Dammit Mel! Don't brush it off like it's nothin! You're almost nine months pregnant and god forbid you went into early labor or something happened!"

"You know," Melanie shook her head, "Saying shit like that to a pregnant woman, just shy of four weeks to her due date, is fucked up. You could like, jinx the entire thing and I'll end up giving birth in my own bathroom."

She looked up at Chris when he snorted in amusement, shaking his head at her. "You're going to get it now from him," he said, as Leonard cursed on the other end.

"Besides, I really don't want my husband having a heart attack, as I'm giving birth to our child," she continued. "If anything, the man should go out having sex or during something totally awesome."

Chris rolled his eyes, "Jesus Christ," he muttered, setting the towel down on the table. "Would you stop egging him on?"

Melanie lowered the phone from her mouth, "What? It's funny!" she insisted, as Leonard yelled at her. "Oh would you shut up, you grumpy old fart!"

"MELANIE, I SWEAR TO GOD!" Leonard hollered, as she quickly hung up on him.

"God, what a fucking baby," she shook her head, setting the phone down on the table. "Whatever Jim is doing to relieve the tension is NOT helping at all."

Chris shook his head, "Don't you even dare talk about them having sex," he warned. "The last time you did that was when we tried having sex in the shower and I couldn't get the image out of my head for two weeks."

She snickered, "So what are we going to do about this storm?" she asked, sitting back in her seat. "When is it supposed to hit?"

"One model says Thursday the other says by Saturday," he shrugged. "What do you want to do? Should we run down to the store and get some food? Or just ride it out?"

"Well, we do need cat food and litter," she shrugged. "I guess we can get a couple things and maybe a case or two of water. No matter what, I always get a case of water because you never know!"

Chris nodded, "Go get ready and I'll check the flashlights," he said, setting the folded laundry back into the basket. "Hopefully it'll end up being nothing in the end."

Melanie slowly stood up from her chair, "You and me both," she muttered. "But it'll be a great excuse to have you home for the night."

….

By Tuesday night, all of New York and the Eastern seaboard went into full panic mode. As Tropical Storm Lola became Hurrican Lola, a category three storm, packing enough punches to send the entire coast of North Carolina further West, no one was taking any chances.

"My brother is such an asshole," Melanie shook her head, setting the phone down. "How's it feel to be wrong, Melanie? Told you I was right!" she mimicked.

Chris set the remote down on the arm of the sofa and sighed, "It still could pass us," he offered. "I mean, power hurricanes can't hit the same place twice in a short period of time right?"

She took a seat next to him, putting her feet up on the coffee table. "Well, I mean.. the Titanic sank in 1912 and then World War one started two years later. Two horrific events in a short period of time."

"Did you just compare a two hurricanes to Titanic and World War one?" he asked.

"What?" she shrugged. "It was a good example!"

Chris snorted as he turned the television off, "I say we just sleep through the entire thing! Close the windows, unplug everything and lock ourselves up in the bedroom with the cats and sleep."

Melanie smiled, "I like that idea," she said, resting her head on his shoulder. "I could sleep through anything at this point."

"Just like you slept through Callie knocking the potted fern this morning," he mumbled, still pissed at the early morning wake up call. "If she wasn't so cute, I would've let her out the front door.

"You wouldn't dare," she pinched him. "Leave my baby alone."

The said baby took the opportunity to jump up onto the coffee table, her green eyes wide and her tail flicking furiously as she stared at them. Callie then sat down on the pile of magazines, cocked her head to the side and meowed.

Melanie giggled, "Come here!" she patted her lap.

Callie quickly jumped off the table and onto the sofa, landing right on Melanie's lap. She settled down onto her lap, massaging her thigh with her paws, while staring up at Chris through silted eyes.

"Look how mean," he pouted, nodding to the cat. "I don't' trust her."

Scratching the cat behind the ears, Melanie sighed. "Then I don't trust Claude," she shrugged, as Callie purred. "He's always going after my feet for no reason."

"That's his way of saying how much he loves you," Chris snickered, as Melanie set her head back against the sofa cushions. "Wanna move into the bedroom?"

She shook her head, "Let me just relax here for a while," she sighed, shifting against the cushions. "I'll get up in a few minutes."

Chris nodded and kissed her forehead, "I'll go and put new sheets on the bed," he nodded. "Then I'll come back out and help you up."

Melanie nodded, "Sounds nice," she mumbled, as Callie continued to work her magic with her little paws.

With a chuckle, Chris stood up from the sofa and started down the hallway to the bedroom. Pulling a clean set of sheets out of the closet, Chris made his way over to their bed and pulled the comforter off. From outside, he could hear the traffic moving throughout the city; horns blaring and delivery trucks moving to make their final deliveries before the storm him. As Chris stripped the mattress of its sheets, he silently prayed that they would make it through this hurricane without any surprises.